Hulu just announced a commercial-free plan

The cast of "Seinfeld," available to stream on Hulu, jumps for joy after learning about the company's new ad-free option.
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Hulu subscribers have long complained about being forced to sit through ads when the stream movies and TV shows even though they pay $7.99 per month for the service.

It seems that Hulu has been listening.

The company announced on Wednesday that it's launching a commercial-free version of its streaming service for $12 per month.

The $7.99 version of Hulu with commercials will still exist, and members who subscribe to that will have to upgrade to the more expensive version if they want to go ad-free.

Hulu's announcement comes amidst a drastic shift in the way people watch TV. Traditional "linear" TV viewing is down as competition from streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, along with new entrants like HBO Now and Showtime, eat into the time people spend watching TV. An increasing number of people are choosing ditch their TV providers, like Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and DirecTV, and instead get their TV from a mix of these streaming services.

"At Hulu, we pride ourselves on listening to our customers and giving them the best possible experience," Mike Hopkins, the CEO of Hulu, said in a statement. "Many of our customers have asked us for a commercial free option, and so today we are excited to introduce just that."